1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to circuitry which enables geophysical energy such as the sun and the wind to provide electrical power.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many inexpensive and readily available sources of energy exist. These include such sources as solar radiation, wind producing atmospheric pressure and temperature gradients, stored or flowing water, and others. While it has long been desired to utilize such sources to augment conventional energy supplies, the sun and the wind remain essentially unused for this purpose today. This is attributable, at least in part to the following circumstances.
The energy of sources typified by the sun, wind, and water is seldom directly utilizable by the oridinary power consumer. For this reason, the energy of such sources is often converted to electrical power. However, to achieve any significant degree of utilization, it is further necessary to establish the voltage and frequency of the converted power at conventional standards, such as 60 Hz and 110 or 220 volts. Heretofore, this transformation to useful voltages and frequencies has been both expensive and inefficient, thereby detracting from the feasibility of using these types of energy sources.
In addition to the problems of power transformation, the amount of energy available from these sources is variable, dependent on external factors not related to the amount of energy required by the users. For example, the energy available from solar radiation is dependent on the time of day, the season, the amount of cloud cover, etc. The amount of wind energy available depends on a host of geophysical factors.
Effective utilization of the energy from sources of the type noted above has thus required the storage of energy during periods when the available energy exceeds energy demands and the release of stored energy when the available energy is less than that required. This load matching may be accomplished by the use of storage batteries, the electrolysis of water and other means. However, provision of the required storage means introduces additional expense and inefficiencies which further detract from the feasibility of using these energy sources.